Are you a travel savvy road warrior who wants to quickly make airline reservations from your iPhone? It can be a complicated process to research and reserve the exact flights that match your needs. Fortunately, there are several iPhone and iPad apps that make it easier to book a flight, no matter where you are. As a bonus, these apps have features that enhance and improve your travel experience, and save you money along the way. You’ll definitely want to download a few iPhone and iPad apps to your iTunes library before the next trip. Use these apps to not only save some money and time, but also to have convenient options for instantly booking flights from your iOS device. Travel agents not required.

The Hipmunk iPhone and iPad app is a nice choice for comparing and selecting flights. From the home screen, you choose your airports or locations. The date menu functions really well, as you can scroll down through the weeks and months with the days of the week consistently displayed. Your flights are displayed in a list that can be sorted by agony, cost, departure time, and length. The Hipmunk iPhone and iPad app could benefit from some hovering pop-ups to decipher the different colors and symbols. After clicking around the screen, I was able to understand which flights were non-stop or had amenities like wi-fi. You’ll appreciate the saved searches feature, so you don’t have to plug in the information multiple times. After you book your legs, you buy through orbitz.com or via email booking link. The Hipmunk iPhone and iPad app has great features, but you have to work to understand the graphics.

If you have a flexible schedule and like to find the lowest airline ticket price, then the Skyscanner iPhone and iPad app will be a great resource. You play around with dates, time of day, duration of flight, and airports from one screen. You can quickly and easily adjust all of these filters without backtracking and re-entering the consistent data. As you adjust the parameters, new flights are presented and you can save your favorites. After you have made all of the adjustments and completed your research, you choose among your favorite selected flights for the best option. Then, the Skyscanner iPhone and iPad app directs you to the airline to book your flight. The Skyscanner iPhone and iPad app takes flight research to the next level of functionality.

CheapOair’s iPhone app is like Target—combining great value with interesting design. The content is concisely presented, and the aesthetic appeal makes you forget you’re getting an excellent deal. You can book flights and hotel rooms through efficiently designed interface, so you can quickly research and choose your best option. Your airline tickets are presented on the same screen within a carnival game ticket graphic. The modern, fun vibe is refreshing, as well as the great travel tips that pop-up during the app’s searches. On top of the great deal for the reservation, CheapOair’s home screen gives you a promo code for further discount. CheapOair’s iPhone app is a must for bargain shoppers and design-oriented users.

ITA Software which was acquired by Google, makes a free iPhone app called OnTheFly great for shopping for airfare on your mobile device using a matrix style display. The app is great for comparing airline prices and flight variations quickly. OnTheFly finds your location and shows you local airports. Pick up to 3 airports from the list for both the From and To cities. You can either search for specific dates or pick from a date range using a simple calendar view. Even if you pick specific dates, OnTheFly lets you pick “day before” and “day after” options to make sure you are aware of the possible fare differences. You can also fine tune your search by adding a ton of other options including number of stops, cabin (coach, business, first), multi-airline flights, airport changes, seat availability, currency, and more. OnTheFly shows the results in a very easy to read table format, and the price table can be viewed by Airlines, Airports, Dates or even viewed on a live interactive map. Pick your outbound and return flights from a large list of flights sortable by price, departure time, number of stops, arrival time, or duration of flight. Reservations require you to call the Airline directly however in this app, which is probably one of its only negative sides. Once you find a perfect flight, you can also save it within the app under you itineraries section for future reservations, email it to someone, or even print it out. What’s more, ITA actually licenses its search technology to a ton of other services, including Kayak, Hipmunk, Orbits, Hotwire, and CheapTickets, so you know they are cutting edge. You can also find the ITA Matrix Search on the web at matrix.itasoftware.com.

If you need an app to track and book your flight details and an app to coordinate all of your vacation details, then Kayak’s iPhone app will be your favorite. To book a flight, you plug in your travel dates or range of dates, and a list of results instantly appears on the screen. For the flight I researched, there were 1220 options. However, the excellent filter and sorting interface made it easy to create a manageable list. The Kayak iPhone app also contains a flight tracker, price alerts for any changes, airport gate information, and an airline directory. The Kayak iPhone app will find your best deal at booking, get you a refund for any price drops, and help you navigate airports. The Kayak iPhone app takes care of virtually any flight travel need you may have.

If you fly Southwest, then you’ll want to download the Southwest iPhone app. Like flying Southwest, the app is efficient and gets down to business. From the home page, you can access your account information, set up flight alerts, book a flight, check-in, or check a flight’s status. The app uses familiar calendar and search features for predictable navigation. Fortunately, the main menu button is always available to help you crawl back through all of the screens you click through to book a flight. The Southwest iPhone app is a great addition to your iTunes Library.

The Fly Delta iPhone app will make you want to fly Delta. This iPhone app gives you more than flight schedules and flight status. It addresses critical details with smart, efficient functionality. The parking reminder feature is awesome. You can take a picture of your car, save its location, or write yourself a note. You can track your bags with a barcode scanner accessed from the app. Every screen has a one-click option to call customer service. For Delta SkyClub members, you’re just two clicks away from its location, hours, and a checklist of amenities. The Fly Delta iPhone app is filled with upgrades and special features creating a first-class user experience.

If you travel in Europe and north Africa, then easyJet mobile’s iPhone app will be your best friend. The clean, modern orange fonts are distinctive enough to give visual interest without the busy feel of extra graphics. The interface is designed to offer options efficiently and to make it easy for you to make selections quickly. The easyJet mobile app also integrates your web login information, so you can access your customer history and vital information for a speedy checkout. easyJet mobile’s iPhone app is among the most agile, best performing airline ticket reservation apps on this list.

AppSafari
review of
Best iPhone Apps for Finding Flights & Booking Airline Tickets
was written by
Jenni Ward
on
December 16th, 2011
and categorized under
App List, Travel.
Page viewed 17249 times, 2 so far today.
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